Leg Lock Statistics: Which Leg Attacks Actually Finish
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The Jiu-Jitsu Mindset · Data Study
Leg Lock Statistics: Which Leg Attacks Actually Finish
The inside heel hook is the most-used leg lock in elite grappling, with 142 of 3,209 recorded finishes. The five biggest leg attacks — inside heel hook (142), heel hook (137), straight ankle lock (113), knee bar (112) and toe hold (102) — produce 606 taps between them, and the leg-lock family as a whole accounts for about 23% of all finishes.
“Leg locks” is a category, not a technique, and the techniques inside it behave very differently. This is the breakdown, attack by attack, across 97 elite grapplers.
Leg locks ranked by recorded finishes
Out of 3,209 total submission wins across the roster.
| Leg attack | Finishes | Share of all taps | Overall rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inside heel hook | 142 | 4.4% | 6 |
| Heel hook | 137 | 4.3% | 7 |
| Straight ankle lock | 113 | 3.5% | 8 |
| Knee bar | 112 | 3.5% | 9 |
| Toe hold | 102 | 3.2% | 11 |
| Top five combined | 606 | 18.9% | — |
| Whole leg-lock family | — | ~23% | — |
The gap between the top five (18.9%) and the family total (~23%) is the long tail — calf slicers, estima locks, aoki locks and the other rare entries that appear a handful of times each across a whole roster.
The heel hooks are two entries, not one
Our source data records “inside heel hook” and “heel hook” separately, presumably splitting the inside variation from outside and unspecified finishes. Combined, heel hooks produce 279 finishes — 8.7% of every tap in the dataset, which would place them third overall behind only the choke from the back and the armbar if counted as a single technique.
The classics are still there
The most interesting number in this table is the straight ankle lock at 113. It is the oldest and most legal leg attack in the sport, permitted at every belt in every major ruleset, and it still finishes almost as often as the outside heel hook. Mikey Musumeci — who lists the straight ankle lock as his signature finish — has built an entire professional career on the attack most gyms teach to white belts and then forget.
Is this the leg-lock takeover?
Not quite. Leg locks are unquestionably the second-biggest family in the sport, but the trend at the very top has flattened: at the ADCC World Championship, leg-lock finishes fell from roughly 30% in 2017–2019 to 22% in 2024. We covered that in detail in are leg locks taking over jiu-jitsu? and in the heel-hook success-rate breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common leg lock in jiu-jitsu?
The inside heel hook, with 142 of 3,209 recorded finishes among 97 elite grapplers. Counting all heel hook variations together gives 279 finishes, or 8.7% of all taps.
What percentage of jiu-jitsu submissions are leg locks?
About 23% in our dataset — the second-largest family after back attacks. That figure closely matches independent ADCC competition data, which put lower-body finishes at roughly 22% in 2024.
Is the straight ankle lock still worth learning?
The data says yes. At 113 recorded finishes it is the third most productive leg attack in the study, and unlike heel hooks it is legal at every belt level in IBJJF competition.
Knee bar vs toe hold — which is more common?
The knee bar, narrowly: 112 recorded finishes to the toe hold's 102. Both sit in the same tier, well behind the heel hooks.
Sources & method
Data captured from athlete Submission W/L Methods tables on FloGrappling in July 2026 — 97 athletes with recorded methods, 3,209 submission wins, 53 distinct techniques, gi and no-gi combined across each career. The family total of ~23% is our own grouping and includes leg attacks outside the top five. Full write-up: Tap Stats.
More from this series: Are leg locks taking over? · The most common submission in jiu-jitsu · Back attacks · Catch The Jiu Jitsu Mindset on YouTube and Spotify.